sommelier

Forms

sommelier m (plural sommeliers, feminine sommelière)^[1] Old French soumelier (about 1175 in the GLLF), sommellier (about 1250).^[2][3] The feminine soumeliere (1299) first meant a pack-driver's wife.^[3]

Etymology

It is probably from Old French *sommerier, with dissimilation of the second /r/, a derivative of somier (“pack animal”) (modern sommier).^[4][3][5][2] Bloch and Wartburg compare the same dissimilation in sorcellerie from sorcier.^[5] This noun goes back to Latin sagmārius, from sagma (“packsaddle”).^[1][6][7]

The Robert dictionaries give instead Old Occitan saumalier, from saumada (“load of a pack animal”).^[8][9] Rey treats saumaler (12th century), from saumadier, as a parallel formation.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old French the word meant a driver of pack animals (13th century).^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In 1316 it named the officer in charge of the baggage and its transport when the royal court travelled,^[4][3] and the person who looked after the linen, tableware, provisions and wine of a household or community; a 1322 document has sommelier des nappes de la reyne “sommelier of the queen's tablecloths”.^[4][3][6] In the 17th century, when sommier took over this sense, sommelier became at court the officer who laid the table and prepared the wine, which the cupbearer then served (before 1690).^[3][2]

This sense ousted the others, so that since 1812 the word has meant the person in charge of the wine in a restaurant.^[3][4][9] In Swiss French the feminine sommelière is a waitress in a café or restaurant (1812).^[3][9] English took sommelier as a French word in 1849.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Sommellier is recorded, meaning a driver of pack animals.^[3][2]
• 1299 – The feminine soumeliere appears.^[3]
• 1316 – It names a court officer in charge of baggage.^[4][3]
• 1322 – Sommelier des nappes de la reyne is recorded.^[4]
• 1504 – The derivative somelerie is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1671 – Pomey defines it as the person who looks after the wine in a household.^[4]
• 1812 – Mozin records the restaurant sense.^[4][2]
• 1849 – It is used in English.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wine steward, the person in charge of the cellar and the wine in a restaurant.^[9][4][1]
2. (historical) In a great house or a community, the person in charge of the table linen, tableware, provisions and wine.^[9][4][6]
3. (historical) A court officer in charge of carrying the baggage of a prince or lord on pack horses, later one who laid the table and prepared the wine.^[2][1]
4. (Switzerland, feminine) Sommelière: a waitress in a café or restaurant.^[9][3]

Word family

• sommellerie

Related words

• sommier
• somme²
• bête de somme

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 69a
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com